


FIRST CIRCUMSTANCES

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-27
Updated: 2009-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-19 23:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12420177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: The Marauder's first year.





	1. The Map

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

  
Author's notes: 1  


* * *

_I solemnly swear I am up to no good..._

_but promise to record, with the aid of magic and quill, the Hogwarts years with truth, passion and detail_

Signed:

_Remus Lupin_

James Potter

_SIRIUS BLACK_

_Peter pettigrew_

Lily Evans.

Andie Black!

_**Jenna Lurenz <3**   
_

Carrie Rose Fox

[x]

IF YOU'RE READING THESE WORDS YOU ARE EITHER:

A) A TRUE MARAUDER

B) INSANELY CLEVER

C) BRAW

D) ALL OF THE ABOVE

_Quit messing about Padfoot._

SORRY IT WONT COME OFF, IT WAS PERMANENT INK, MOONY.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

**1\. FIRST CIRCUMSTANCES**

* * *

1.1 THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS  
_Andie_

After an abrupt dismissal from my mother, a rough kiss to my forehead and then being punted through the sneaky invisible barrier onto Platform 9 and 3/4 - I saw it. With my own eyes. The scarlet steam engine that was going to take me to Hogwarts. I was finally going to be made into a witch. I'd never been so excited. But I kept my face quite blank.  I knew Bella would make fun of me if I didn't. Our sister Cissa was already on the train.

"Come on, then, midget," Bella drawled, managing to look scowly and disdainful as usual. "Let's see if we can find Jo." She pulled her trunk up the stairs and I followed. We walked down past a few compartments before the whistle blew and the train started to move.

"Bell, maybe you should go to them on your own," I said.

"What?" Bella snapped.

"Well, Jo doesn't like me. And... you know, I can just sit with Sirius and-"

Bella dropped the handle of her trunk, spun around and yanked my wrist into a painful Egyptian Wizard burn. My eyes started to water.

"You're coming with me. Stay away from our cousin. Stay away from _him_ if you know what's good for _you_. You know what Aunt Walberga has been saying, he's been needing attitude adjustment for months now..."

"And what if I don't stay away?"Bella just gave me a sneering look and laugh.

"We both know you won't go near him unless I tell you. I'm the strong one. You do what I say."           

My eyes still full of tears, I tugged my arm away from her."We're not in London anymore, Bella."

I dragged my trunk and walked as fast as I could in the opposite direction. It was difficult, the black leather case was heavy. She called angrily after me, then smashed the glass in one of the windows in the compartment door.

I stumbled into a compartment much further away, lifting the trunk onto the rails on the third attempt. I straightened up and realised I was shaking. What had I done? My sister, my one hope of protection at Hogwarts, was gone like a snuffed candle. Bella could hold a grudge for ages and was stubborn as a goat. I was scared. All of my very extended family was at Hogwarts. They were in Slytherin. They knew hexes and jinxes.

I would never last a week.

I put on my black school robes, for lack of something to do. The tie was purple - I hadn't been Sorted into Slytherin yet. I wasn't sure how they Sorted new first years, it was kept secret. Bella hinted that it wasn't too bad - in the way that getting needles in your gums and drilling your teeth wouldn't hurt too badly. She had taken a ghoulish glee in telling me all about the psychotic ways Muggles practiced dentistry.

Bella... I swallowed some disappointment. She was probably right as usual. It was stupid, but I really wanted to be friends with Sirius. Whenever we went to family dinners, he was the only one who could make me laugh and feel like a human, rather than a polished doll on display.

As a distraction, I thought longingly of the new violin packed away in my trunk. I didn't ask Mother and Father for much, but I was obsessed with music. They paid for music lessons they thought were appropriate - classical violin, harp and piano - but Uncle Alphard had secretly given me a guitar. When my parents were out, I strummed it until my fingers blistered. I blamed Granny Irma's old violin strings. In retaliation, they had bought me a new violin.

Music was so easy. It was it's own kind of magic. I hoped that spells and wand waving would come naturally to me too. Cissa had taunted me for ages, when she was seven and I was six and showing no sparks, that I was a Squib. She regretted it when I magically exploded her Gobstones to squirt all over her hair. By accident of course...

I was startled when the door opened. A short and skinny boy entered, his head down. He seemed embarrassed.

"Hi, um, can I sit here, please?" he was wearing his robes too, with a shabby blue jumper over his shirt and tie.

"Yeah," I said, watching him shuffle into the compartment and sit opposite me. When he finally raised his head to look me in the eye, I was shocked. There was a horrific red slash across his cheek. It looked as if someone had tried to fix it by magic as it was softer at some of the edges, but they had given up.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine," he said quietly, guessing what my slack-jaw was all about. "Attacked by the neighbour's dog."

"Angry dog," I muttered, then regretted it. Tactless.

"Big. Badly behaved," he agreed. I smiled then spotted his left hand.

"Tried to fend it off with your hands?" I pointed to the bandages. He nodded and started to say something when the door opened again. A girl with fire-red hair lingered in the doorway. A boy with longish dark hair was behind her. They were both wearing robes - the girl's very neat, the boy's a little careworn.

"Do you mind if we sit in your compartment? There were bullies in ours," she asked fiercely. I shook my head and Remus nodded. She narrowed her eyes but came in anyway, the boy following closely. Her name was Lily Evans and - get this - _she was a Mudblood!_ And she didn't seem bothered by it at all! In fact, she proudly got out her wand and did a Charm! Shiny gold bubbles floated around our heads. I was impressed.

The boy - Severus Snape - frowned a little and made them go away, jabbing his own wand fiercely at each, and saying a word I had never heard. 

"Spoilsport," Lily stuck out her tongue. "They were pretty!"

"Magic isn't supposed to be pretty," Severus snapped quickly. His face fell and some of the anger was gone from his tone. "It's supposed to keep you safe."

We all paused awkwardly after this heavy statement, then Remus quickly changed topics and asked which Quidditch team we supported.

"I don't care," I said honestly. It was boring.

"I've never seen it," said Severus Snape. Another Mudblood? "My mum doesn't like Quidditch. She's a witches witch." He answered my unasked question.

"What's Quidditch?" Lily looked lost.

"Oh, it's the magical sport. Almost everyone follows it, like football," Remus explained. "It's sort of like mixed basketball and cricket, on broomsticks. And the goals are fifty feet in the air."

I smiled, amused by the look of complete awe on Lily's face.

"You never told me about broomsticks, Sev!"

"You never asked," he smiled faintly. "I've never been on one either."

"I thought it would be silly - like broomsticks were just part of the Muggle idea of witchcraft..." she trailed off.

"Quidditch is fast and dangerous. But really exciting..."

I tuned out. Quidditch _was_ sort of exciting to watch, but extremely boring to talk about. I was glad when a distraction came in the form of a lunch-trolley. I leapt to my feet, noticing that Remus had embarrassedly got out some foil-wrapped sandwiches. 'Sev' and Lily didn't move at all. No older siblings at Hogwarts then.

I dug into my pocket, smiling and glad I could use the ridiculous amount of gold for something, I don't know, selfless? Generous at least. 

I asked the kind-looking witch who was pushing the trolley for a couple of everything. I almost dropped the overload of sweets as I hurried back into the compartment. I laughed as three pairs of eyes popped at my sudden reappearance, with colourful sweets, pasties and cakes.

"Here we go," I announced. "Lunch time."

"What-"

"No-"

"I've got sandwiches-"

 I waved away the protests and threw Chocolate Frogs at all of them, smacking off their foreheads.

"You'd make a good Chaser," Remus muttered.

"Never. God forbid that should happen to me," I said sincerely. Sev laughed.

"What's this?" Lily was looking at her Chocolate Frog Card. "Where's the picture - oh!"

She got the shock of her life as the wizard strolled back into his frame.

"They don't stay still like in normal photos," Remus said. Lily's eyes - a bright emerald green - were alight with curiosity and delight. I was thinking about Remus's word - _normal_ \- as I ate a Pumpkin Pasty. Was he a Mudblood like her? No, then how did he know about Quidditch? I stared at the skinny boy with the slash on his face and dark circles under his eyes and roughed up hand. Halfer, I decided. Definitely a halfer.

Rain began to lash at the windows. The sky grew darker as the clouds rolled in and the rain lashed even harder. There was a wind that got into our compartment, through a crack in the window that we still couldn't find, and it whined like an untuned violin. The noise was mournful. I glanced at my reflection in the darkening window.

I tugged my fingers through dark blond hair. It was short and kind of spiked outwards. It wasn't enough to distract me from the purple tie sitting around my shirt.

"Do you know how we get Sorted?" I blurted out. Lily shook her head and Sev shrugged then stared at his shoes. Remus looked thoughtful before answering me.

"My brother says it hurts a lot. But he might have been kidding," he was uneasy. The circles under his eyes were more noticeable under the glare of the lamps now lighting the carriage.

Whatever else he might said was drowned out by an announcement.

"We are now approaching Hogsmeade Station. Prefects please standby for duty."

 The train flicked through a dark tunnel.

"All students please leave your luggage on the train. It will be transported to the castle seperately. Thank you for boarding with the Hogwarts Express."

It slowed to a standstill. There was thunderous banging as all the doors flew open by magic. I peeked out the window. Tall students with blazers trimmed with scarlet, emerald, blue and gold were flanking the doors.

Something like excitement - or maybe puke - was building inside me. This was it! We shuffled out of the compartment, tripping over our feet and overlong robes. We were pushed and jostled as we got onto the platform. The rain was still pounding down, in Quaffle sized droplets, judging by the soaked state most people were in. 

"Alright, Hagrid?" an older boy shouted to someone.

"Hiya, Dean - mind and keep a look out for Tenebrus! I'll see yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

I gawped as I shuffled a little further forwards, blinking rainwater out of my eyes.

"Firs' years to me! All firs' years over here!" Hagrid boomed. This man was _huge._ He was massive and forbidding, with a tangled black beard and mane of hair, but I could have sworn he winked at me. His dark eyes were twinkling - and I saw he was smiling underneath all that beard.

"Come on, this way!" he gestured, and a mass of us followed the giant off the platform to the lake. There was a fleet of little boats waiting for us. _It was finally happening to me._

"Four in a boat! Only four in a boat!"

I beamed up at Hagrid as I picked a boat. Remus got in with me but before Lily and Sev could get in, they were almost knocked over by a boy with the messiest hair I've ever seen and -

"Sirius!" I shouted, as my cousin enveloped me in a hug that almost knocked me over.

"Andromeda!" he shouted back, ruffling up my hair. "Nice to see ya!"

"Excuse me but -"

"You and Snivellus can get another boat. If you're not fast, you're last," the messy haired boy was saying stubbornly. I only got time to glance at Lily before she flounced off. A tiny boy who looked petrified got into their boat. (I found out later James had squirted him with Gobstone juice as he walked past).

When everyone was in a boat (Hagrid had one to himself) he cleared his throat and spoke loudly. "This is a rough storm righ' now, an' it seems to be gettin' worse. Yeh'll all be fine as long as yeh _stay in yer boats_ ," he said the last bit very firmly, glaring round at everyone. Quite a few people huddled closer to the centre of their wooden boat.

"Here we go!" Hagrid roared, as a wave bumped under and lifted the boats. The fleet began to glide smoothly, probably by magic. Occasionally a huge wave swelled and pushed the boats a few feet higher than natural. I heard a few girls screaming in fear. Idiots, sniggered the boys I was with. I didn't - I was in a boat with the boys, and didn't want to be an idiot.

There was a girl screaming two boats ahead. She reminded me of Cissa, with her girlish behaviour, and her hair was the same colour. I could see this through the worsening rain and darkness because it was so white-blond it practically glowed in the dark.

Thunder was growling like a dog that hadn't been fed. I wondered, idly, stupidly, if the dog that had attacked Remus had been hungry. We all shivered - the cold and rain was just getting worse and worse. It didn't stop my excitement. I was heading to Hogwarts in a little wooden boat, just like all my family, all my big cousins - but I bet they had never crossed the lake in a storm!

Great forks of lightning flashed across the sky. People stopped screaming. The bright flash of pure energy - which not even magic could control - surprised everyone.

"Wow," I saw Sirius mouthing the word. My ears didn't seem to be working anymore. The boats were rocking dangerously. I thought I could see the castle in the distance, but it was getting closer.

"Everyone duck!" bellowed Hagrid over the roaring rain and thunder. We all lowered our heads as the boats passed into a caved tunnel of rock. All too soon we were back outside, clutching to the edge of our boats and to each other.

Suddenly, a colossal wave tipped my boat 'til it was nearly vertical and Sirius and his friend fell out!

"SIRIUS!" I yelled, panicked.

The water was so deep and black, with powerful waves rippling through it - he was going to drown - and so was the Potter boy - Remus was yelling something as our boat crashed back down, tipping a new tidal wave's worth of water over us both - I was screaming Sirius's name over and over -he was going to drown -

Sirius and James Potter were dumped back into our boat. Two long, slimy, grey tentacles slinked back into the raging waters. I spat out the water that was in my mouth, then began to hyperventilate.

"Oh- oh- oh, my god, g-god," I stuttered.

They both started laughing hysterically, spitting out water. After a few moments, Remus still looking like he was about to collapse, ran his hand through his sopping wet hair and joined in.

"Wow wow wow!"

"I _know!_ " James was trying to clear his glasses and failing.

"We fell. In the lake. We fell in the lake!"

 

"I know!"

"And that- that-"

"Thing! I KNOW!"

As I watched them completely ending themselves laughing, I realised I probably would never be Sirius's friend. He had found his best friend already.

I was woken out of my reverie by Hagrid hustling us off the boats and up grand stone steps. He hammered on the imposingly tall doors with such force I was shocked they didn't cave in. We all shuffled in, soaking wet and freezing. Hagrid told us to wait for 'Professor McGonagall'.

"HAHAHA! There they are, new little squirts!"

A few people screamed and ducked as a cackling laugh resounded in the hallway. A little man, wearing a purple suit and an obscenely green bow tie, was swooping over our heads clutching -

"Balloons! He's got water balloons!"

"Not quite, firstie," the strange little man laughed uproariously, throwing an orange balloon at the black haired boy who'd shouted. It exploded all over him, leaving him sticky and covered in purple paint.

His wicked dark eyes narrowed, as though he was taking aim. Quite a few people screamed and ducked. Others ran wildly, hoping to escape being splatted with paint. However, he just laughed again and threw _all of the balloons_ straight into the air. They fell unnaturally quickly and almost everyone had been hit.

Instantly, there was a riot. People were shouting and jumping about, throwing paint off themselves and onto their neighbours, accidentally or intentionally, it was impossible to know -

Ugh. It smelled a bit like automobile petrol. Disgusting. I spat some of it out of my mouth. Red. Like blood. There was green, for the house I was destined for, all over my new shoes. Patent leather. Mother would have a fit.

"PEEVES!" an angry voice shouted over the hubbub.

Peeves let out one last laugh before disappearing with a whip-like crack.

* * *

**A/N: This story is being published for me.**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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